Biographical Sketch of James Riddle, Johnson County, Missouri,
Rose Hill Township.

>From "History of Johnson County, Missouri," by Ewing Cockrell,
Historical Publishing Company, Topeka, Cleveland, 1918.
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James Riddle, one of Johnson county's highly respected pioneer citizens
and a successful farmer and stockman of Rose Hill township, is a native
of Ohio.  Mr. Riddle was born in 1844, a son of Archibald Riddle, son 
of James Riddle, who was an emigrant from Scotland.  He came to America
and located first in Pennsylvania and several years later settled in
Ohio. The Riddles trace their ancestry back to the time of the conquest
of the Northmen in 1066.  Different members of the family were knighted
in the old feudal days in Great Britain.  Nicholas Ridley, bishop of
London, a martyr of the period of the Reformation, who was descended
from a family long seated in Northumberland and October 16, 1555, in 
company with Latimer, was burned at the stake at Oxford for heresy, is
an ancestor of James Riddle.  During the centuries and in changing
countries the spelling of the name has been changed slightly, but the
family has remained the same.  When James Riddle was a boy of seventeen
years, he enlisted in the Civil War with Company A, Twelfth Ohio Caval-
ry and for three years served faithfully and well under Captain F. A.
Dubois.  Mr. Riddle fought in many skirmishes and took an active and
effective part in numerous important battles, twenty-five in all. After
the conflict closed, he returned to his farm home in Ohio.  In 1866, he
purchased 100 acres of land in Rose Hill township, for which he still
holds the old warrant, signed by President Buchanan and given to the
original owner of the tract, who entered the land from the government.
Mr. Riddle built a small house on this place, when he first came to
Johnson county, and this was the Riddle home for years.  In 1915, it
was burned to the ground and Mr. Riddle then built the present handsome,
nine room, modern house, which is his present residence.  In 1867, 
James Riddle and Martha C. Cresswell, daughter of James Cresswell, own-
er of the Lincoln Mills in Pennsylvania, were united in marriage.  To
this union have been born four children, of whom three children are now
living: Mrs. Lissa M. Anderson, Los Angeles, California; Mrs. Mattie E.
Rearick, Kansas City, Missouri; and Mrs. Ruth A. Yoder, Holden, Miss-
ouri.  Mr. and Mrs. Yoder make their home with her parents and Charles
W. Yoder is associated in partnership with Mr. Riddle in farming and
stock raising.  Mrs. Riddle and her daughter are interested in the 
poultry industry and at the time of this writing, in 1917, have one of 
the finest flocks of Rhode Island Reds to be found in Johnson county.
Mr. and Mrs. Riddle are earnest Christians and devout and valued mem-
bers of the Presbyterian Church for almost all their lives.  Mr. Riddle
became a member of the church in 1869.  James Riddle and Charles W. 
Yoder have a splendid herd of high grade Jersey cows on the Riddle 
place and they find that the production of cream for the market is a
very profitable business.  They are raising Duroc Jersey hogs and own a
fine Clydesdale stallion and good jack.  Mr. Riddle has given his 
entire time and closest attention to farming and stock raising and, be-
ing a man of thrifty propensities, has prospered.  He is a gentleman of
the old school, of splendid physique, never having been ill a day dur-
ing his entire life and he is now 73 years of age, and of quiet, un-
obtrusive, kindly manners.  Mr. Riddle has never been in a lawsuit in
all his life.  He has always felt that it was better to settle any
difficulties outside of court and to keep out of trouble and wrangles,
thus he has a multitude of friends, with whom he is a prime favorite
because of his jovial ways.  For many years, Mr. Riddle was superinten-
dent of the Sunday School held at Union schoolhouse and then of the 
Christian Sunday School at Quick City, but on account of his hearing
for the last few years, he has not been active in church work.  He has
never taken a drink of liquor and is an ardent temperance advocate.  In
every way, James Riddle is a first class farmer and stockman.  He has
watched the changes in Johnson county which have occurred during the 
past half century, the growth from a wild, lawless, sparsely settled
region to one of the best and most progressive, well populated divis-
ions of the grand, old state of Missouri and he has done his full share
in aiding the upbuilding of his chosen county, in making it one of the
garden spots of the West.  Mr. and Mrs. Riddle are worthy of the high-
est honor and they are highly regarded among Rose Hill township's best
and most public spirited citizens.

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